SSUK Content: Off to book in at the doctors in a bit

Thought I’d got away with just heavy bruising from my ridiculous first lap off (on the second of the five foot rock slab steeps if anyone saw it – truly ridiculous), but..

Got a tick bite – and they have Lyme disease in the Moors – and the last Tick bite I got there was pretty nasty – rings of blisters and nicely defined red and crimson rings covering most of my leg before the antibiotics took hold.

So if anyone else did pick up any ticks do check out NHS Direct for what to look for – it is worth your while.

Flu symptons shortly afterwards and it needs hitting fast and hard with antibiotics.
That said there is a very low chance of getting Lymes in the north so don’t worry too much. Obviously you have a reaction to the bite so worth getting that sorted out.

The concentric circles rash is another telltale. It’s a low chance but higher where you get deer (like Dalby).

That said I’ve had hundreds of tick bites over the years and that one at Dalby a couple of months ago is the first time I’ve needed antibiotics.

We get them all the time, from the garden or when riding locally. Little nasty buggers.
Never had any problems but do check the bite for days afterwards….
Its my poor dog that suffers this time of year, I take a few off her every week…..

Do you know if you can get the flu type stuff but without a rash ?

both ways I think. Rash and/or flu-ish

This will tell you more – NHS Direct

Think yourself lucky you only got a tick, I,ve ended up with a cat we rescued from Hagg farm fecker is costing me pounds already after a visit to the vets.

He is pretty cool though,good luck with the ticks

I found a tick on my leg a day after a ride last year, can’t say I’ve ever seen a tick bite on it’s own tho, I thought the little buggers held on for a while. Got me even more paranoid now. Are tick bites obvious then? (pre-infection I mean, those bullseye rashes aren’t difficult to spot) I got a few bites over weekend but pretty sure they are just midges.

According to local GPs there doesn’t seem to be Lyme prevalent in this area of the moors (ie Dalby and south east). I had one bit go a bit funny a couple of years ago and had the tests, but no problems.

I’ve not had any ticks so far this year, but plenty of others have and there seem to be a lot about. I’m sort of sad I haven’t got to use my new tick tweezers 😉

DONK: You’re right, usually if you’ve been bitten the little bugger will still be attached and happily feeding off you – then you just have to watch the spot for a while after you removed them. But if you’ve been in a ticky area I guess it makes sense to watch out for reactions on any bites etc.

They are always still attachted, I use a tick remover I made out of a bit of wire, and drop them down the plug hole (that’ll learn the buggers)

Then just watch the bit marks for a few days, I only asked as I have flu/cold at the moment after a weekend in the garden/biking….

How do Donk; good to meet you at the weekend. Yep that’s the type of rash I had but with the addition of blisters on the inner red bit.
It was a little less distinct than that as the outer circle was larger and effectively broken visually by the fact that my leg wasn’t big enough to cover all of where the rash would be if that makes sense.
Came up on the Tuesday 9 days after I got the bite on the Sunday. The bite was noticable initially (itchy raised and red) but that settled down after a few days before coming back with a vengence.
Get it early enough with antibiotics and it’s meant to be relatively OK; just don’t leave it (I’m told). And don’t take medical advice from engineers.
And the local GPs might not think there is Lyme disease in the Dalby area, but my York GP though there was in the North York Moors and looked at the rings for about 10 seconds before reaching for the antibiotics.
Now that said, I didn’t have a blood test and it’s possible something else gave me the rash, but rash plus tick bite equals pretty likely.
Thankfully the antibiotics settled it within the week (though it stopped me drinking in Les Gets).

Rung in – the want to see me Monday to give the symptoms time to appear. Or possibly to give time for me to stop whinging.

Donk, drop me a line willya? Email in profile.

Ah thanks for the advice people.

IGM were we discussing song titles in the beer tent? (well you were suggesting some, my brain wasn’t working, I drew a total blank)

MrSparkle I may be being stupid but I can’t see an email in your profile
try me at donkthedownhiller (thats at yahoo dot co dot uk)

Donk – That’s me – full of mindless twaddle (that should get past the swear filter)

Mr Sparkle – that wasn’t your lad on the Strongbow was it?

mindless twaddle

Thats what boozing is all about isnt it? oh and I remebered it was Turin Brakes I was thinking of, Painkiller mentions cycling (just) and Underdog cites “wd40” and “screeching little brakes” so that’ll do 🙂

And the local GPs might not think there is Lyme disease in the Dalby area, but my York GP though there was in the North York Moors and looked at the rings for about 10 seconds before reaching for the antibiotics.

There might well be in other places on the moors, just that locally they don’t see it. I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that you shouldn’t take any symptoms seriously. Although if your GP thought it warranted antibiotics, why no blood test? I’d bloody want one! You can get lots of different infections via tick bites, I’d want to know what it was before assuming a quick blast of antobiotics will have cleared it up.

>why no blood test? I’d bloody want one!

Quite ! – a guy I know vaguely via the GF works in forestry, some years back picked up Lyme disease but didn’t know for about a year or more and had bunch of health issues as a result – can be quite nasty. Lost touch so I dunno whether he made a decent recovery..

As I understand it the treatment for Lyme if you get it early is a boat load of antibiotic. The rash is pretty distinctive. Chances are I’m OK.

Also if you think it is and Doctors don’t all believe in Lymes you may have to argue the antibiotics off them.